1. Field
One embodiment of the invention relates to a technology for increasing resolution of an image and, more particularly, to an image processing apparatus that switches resolution levels and a method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recent progress in the integration of a personal computer (PC) and a television provides more opportunities to view various types of videos on a high-resolution display with high definition (HD) exceeding standard definition (SD).
Video broadcast for SD televisions, video recorded on DVD, or the like has low resolution. Therefore, when users view video in HD size (especially, in full HD size, i.e., full HD resolution of 1920×1080 pixels), the resolution of the video is increased. To increase the resolution of an image, technologies, such as linear interpolation and cubic covolution interpolation, have been used to calculate the pixel value of the image. With these technologies, however, a sharp image cannot be obtained.
In view of this, a super resolution technology has been studied, in which an image is expanded, and high-frequency component pixels are interpolated between pixels of the expanded image to obtain a sharp high-resolution image (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) Nos. 2008-067110 and 2008-146190). The conventional super resolution technology enhances the sharpness of video, and thus users can enjoy the sharp and clear video.
Videos having different data amounts are provided in various manners as, for example, via broadcasting including broadcasting satellite (BS) broadcasting, communication satellite (CS) broadcasting, digital terrestrial broadcasting, analog broadcasting, and via the Internet. Therefore, with the conventional super resolution technology, to enjoy more clear video, users perform a complicated operation to switch the level indicating the intensity of super-resolution processing (hereinafter, “super-resolution level”) depending on provided video.